Brittney Benjamin is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Health and Societies with a Public Health concentration on the pre-med track. Growing up in New York, she became interested in the social determinants of health driving the disparities in chronic illness experienced by her loved ones in the Bronx, NY, and overseas in Ghana. Her interests lie in improving health outcomes for women and children through clinical practice and epidemiology, domestically in the United States, and globally.
This summer, Brittney has worked with her mentor, Dr. Samantha Winter, to investigate the impacts of climate change on Kenyan women within informal settlements, and what methods and resources they utilize to ensure their emotional, physical, and economic resilience. Her primary responsibilities included working with Dr. Winter’s team to execute the study’s qualitative analysis. This included coding interview transcripts through a deductive approach and conducting a literature review for her in-depth investigation of the impact of social cohesion on facilitating resilience and supporting residents with disabilities.